The cheapest 2TB USB flash drive I’ve found costs less than $100 — it’s pushing external HDD and portable SSD to extinction
You can now get a 2TB SSD as small as a USB Flash drive for less than $100 and that’s incredible
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I remember buying my first flash drive a long time ago - a plastic 64MB model with a removable cap. Back then we called it a thumb drive, but fast forward to the last few months of 2023 and a 2TB USB flash drive can be had for less than $100 atAmazon, and it’s probably one of thebest USB flash driveswhen it comes to value for money.
TheBuffalo SSD-PUTis sold as aportable SSDstick but its size (69 x 22 x 10mm for a weight of 17g) puts it squarely in the category of a USB flash drive. We haven’t reviewed it yet but our peers rate it highly. Buffalo may not be a household name but I have come across it this Japanese storage brand several times in the past.
Note that you can add a 3-yeardata recoveryplan from After Solutions for a mere $14.99. The plan will attempt to recover the data from the failed drive and recovered data will be returned on a media storage device or via secure cloud-based data storage.
Buffalo SSD-PUT 2TB USB Flash Drive- $124.99$99.99 at AmazonSave 20%This USB Flash Drive is also a portable SSD. Compatible with popular gaming consoles as well as the latest PC and Mac devices, it comes with a 3-year warranty as well as a tiny footprint and better-than-average speeds.
Buffalo claims that it can reach read/write speeds of up to 600 MB/s and 500 MB/s respectively, much faster than traditional external hard drives and speedier than SATA-based portable SSDs that usually populate the lower end of the market. It is fast enough fordata backupand would be a great complement tocloud storageas part of a backup strategy, thanks to its NVMe technology.
I like the fact that it has a retractable connector, great for those who like me lose the cap all the time. Buffalo says that it is more durable thanks to a rugged design that “increase shock resistance and overall drop protection”, making it a good candidate for ourrugged driveguide.
Add in native USB 3.2 Gen2 connectivity (with a free USB type-A to USB type-C connector), a carabiner, and up to three year warranty and you’ve got a fantastic storage device that is just a bit more expensive than your average external rugged hard drive or portable SSD.
Giving it a solid score of 4 out of 5,PC Mag’s Tony Hoffmanwrote that it’s “good for general use, though its test scores show it better suited for file transfer and storage than program loading”.Tweaktown’s Tyler Bernathwas even more enthused, writing that it is “a great option for users wanting an amazingly fast pen drive at a solid price with top capacity options of 1TB.”
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Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled inwebsite buildersandweb hostingwhen DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.
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